(From the Sunday, August 24, 2003 edition of the Advance News, Ogdensburg, N.Y., page 2-B)

MALONE--Three Malone men are facing a total of 302 felony charges in connection with an Aug. 11 cemetery vandalism incident in which over 80 headstones, footstones and monuments were knocked over, causing an estimated $205,000 in damages. If convicted they could face more than seven years in state prison.

Nathan A. Nichols, 18, Mark D. Martin, Jr., 17, and Sean M. McGibbon, 19, all of Malone, were arrested Friday afternoon by Malone Village Police after an intensive investigation. Nichols and Martin were each charged with 16 counts of second-degree criminal mischief; 59 counts of third-degree criminal mischief, and 75 counts of first-degree cemetery desecration, all felonies. McGibbon was charged with a single count each of third-degree criminal mischief and first-degree cemetery desecration. Each cemetery desecration charge is punishable by up to four years in state prison, while the second-degree criminal mischief charges are punishable by up to seven years, according to Franklin County District Attorney Derek Champagne.

The trio was arraigned before Village of Malone Justice Andrew Simays Friday. Martin and Nichols were remanded to Franklin County Jail in lieu of $50,000 bail, while McGibbon was released under the supervision of the Franklin County Probation Department.

Among the targets of the alleged vandalism was the family plot of former U.S. Vice President William Almon Wheeler, which had been the focus of a five year restoration project. American flags placed at various grave sites were strewn about the cemetery. Some of the veterans' graves date back to the Civil War.

Other notables laid to rest in the cemetery are Orville Gibson, founder of Gibson Guitars, the grandparents of Almanzo Wilder and the Wead family.

Only the newer section on the eastern edge of the grounds was reportedly left untouched.